DroneDJ

Future urban air mobility aircraft won’t simply be used for (relatively) affordable, carbon-free public transport like air taxis and other forms of aerial ride-sharing. Now next-generation craft developer Lilium is also looking to market its electric takeoff and landing (eVTOL) jet to the well-heeled elite as inner and inter-city supplements to their globe-spanning private planes.

Reversing a position it took last year, Canada’s government says it is sending cutting-edge surveillance cameras for use on Turkish military drones in armed conflict ­– this time in Ukraine.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has issued a preliminary report on the February 16 crash of a Joby electric takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxi prototype, citing “a component failure” as the cause.

The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), which operates under the Department of Defense (DoD) to scale commercial drone technology across the US military, has unveiled the first drone to be fully authorized and approved under the Blue sUAS 2.0 program.

Eyes on Ukraine, a Dutch volunteer group, says it’s bringing 187 DJI Mini 2 drones to Ukraine so “we all can see” what Russia is doing to the East European nation. The group says it will strive to get as many drones as possible in the air over Kyiv and all other places in Ukraine where fighting is going on “so the truth will not perish in this war.”

To discuss all things drone, the 2022 FAA Drone Symposium has been scheduled for Thursday, April 28 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. The in-person event will be co-hosted by the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) during the XPONENTIAL 2022 conference.

Indoor drone inspection solution provider Flybotix has announced a new version of its post-flight analysis software, ASIO Explore. The new and improved ASIO Explore 2.0 introduces a bunch of long-awaited features such as 3D map generation, POI localization, video and 3D map synchronization, real temperature monitoring, and customizable report generation.

India’s aviation industry regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), is sounding an alarm over increasing drone pilot training scams in the country. The agency says several “fake” schools have cropped up across the nation, falsely claiming to have been approved by the DGCA.

In a sure sign urban air mobility (UAM) services can’t be far off, UK vertiport specialist Urban-Air Ports has signed a deal with several retailing brands to provide all the food, drink, and sundry stuff travelers inevitably buy when getting to or from a flight.

European aviation giant Airbus has signed a deal with authorities in Saudi Arabia that will update and expand the fleet of traditional helicopters in the Kingdom, while also preparing it for the operation of future urban air mobility (UAM) craft and services like air taxis.

Leading urban air mobility (UAM) aircraft manufacturer, Volocopter, has announced its long-serving CEO, Florian Reuter, will be stepping down in September and make way for former Airbus Defense and Space boss, Dirk Hoke.

Among the large number of heroes in the Ukraine’s determination to repel invading Russian armed forces is a mid-size, locally made drone known as the Punisher – something of a weaponized step-up vehicle from consumer craft to the formidable Turkish-built Bayraktar TB2 UAVs also being flown in the country’s defense. As Team Putin might woefully attest, the pint-size Punisher has been living up to its name.

Researchers involved in a unique wildlife project are flying drones in an effort to track invasive Burmese pythons that are infesting the Everglades and other natural areas of Florida.

African national flag carrier Kenya Airways says it will continue diversifying its activity and income sources by rolling out air taxi services in 2025 ­– part of its efforts to develop next-generation urban air mobility (UAM) operations.

Countless awe-inspiring stories of courage and grit have come out of Ukraine in the past few days. One such act of bravery was highlighted by Liubov Tsybulska, an advisor to the Ukrainian government, over the weekend. Tsybulska said a woman in Kyiv had taken down a Russian drone by slinging a jar of cucumbers at it from her balcony. “How did they expect to occupy this country?” she asked her followers on Twitter.

In the wake of the Russian shelling of Ukraine’s enormous Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, contamination detection specialist US Nuclear Corp. says it is sending one of its specialized DroneRAD UAVs to Ukrainian authorities to help monitor the facility’s reactors for potential radiation leaks.

A UK consortium known as Skybus has completed a feasibility study for using a large-size electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft as a form of mass aerial transit that might operate like the organization’s name.

Swiss vertical takeoff and landing aircraft company Wingtra will be giving away three WingtraOne drones as prizes in its new Earth Day Challenge, whose winners will be selected on the merits of their proposed environmental or humanitarian projects.

DJI’s Action 2 modular camera, which recently received a bunch of new and impressive features through a firmware update, can now be scored at $80 off in a discount deal.

DJI Mini 3, the highly anticipated successor to the popular Mini 2 drone, has been dominating the rumor mill as it approaches a supposed release date of April 2022. In the latest development, a DJI leaker has released a list of possible specs the upcoming drone could feature.

In a recent enforcement effort, the Connecticut State Police (CSP) used drones to catch truckers suspected of transporting “harmful devices and materials.”

Germany-based urban air mobility (UAM) startup Volocopter, which plans to launch fully-electric passenger air taxis and cargo drones around the world in coming years, says it has picked up $170 million as the first tranche of Series E funding to kick off services in “cities like Singapore, Rome, and Paris.”

In a sign that the oft-celebrated (and of late mourned) special relationship between the US and UK is alive still, a rapprochement between the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on advanced air mobility (AAM) craft is stoking the ambitions of vehicle manufacturers like Joby already active in both nations.